Portable deck



Feb. 9, 1943. e. G. GREULICH PORTABLE DECK Filed July 12, 1940 ratentedFeb. 9, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE- 2,310,426 PORTABLE DECK GeraldG. Greulich, Mount Lebanon, Pa., assignor to Carnegie Illinois SteelCorporation, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of New Jersey ApplicationJuly 2; 1940, Serial No. 345,217 *(Cl. 94-13) 2 Claims.

This invention relates to portable decks, and more particularly to anumber of elements which may be connected to provide paved areaswherever desired, such as for the purposes of storage and handling ofmaterial, and boxes, bales, crates, etc., paving for vehicular traffic,airplane runways, etc.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a portabledeck which may be readily fabricated of metallic plates and made toembody integral interlocking devices which enable the ready erection anddismantling of the deck, thereby eliminating bolts, rivets; ,wel ding,or other extraneous securing instrumental; ities.

Another object is the provision of a device or" the class describedwhich in either erection or dismantling, does not require skilled laboror the use of any tools whatsoever.

Another object is to provide a portable deck I of the class describedwhich is composedof units which may easily be stacked ornestedanditransported in the form bfbundles. a i

The foregoing and other objects will be more apparent after referring tothe accompanying drawing, in which: Figure 1 is a fragmentary andelevation;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevation illustrating the manner of operationof the interlocks, and

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan. Referring more particularly to thedrawing, the numeral l designates the webs of a number of identicalplates which are assembled and secured together to provide the portabledeck of the present invention. As shown in the drawing the webs l aresubstantially straight and of uniform thickness.

At one end of the web I, each of the plates carries a continuous shortright angular flange which extends upwardly from the supporting surfaceor ground on which the portable deck is to rest. The other edge of theweb I of each of the metallic plates is provided withan upwardsemi-circular portion 3 and'a lower semi-circular portion 4 which issimilar to the former but provided with an overbe. readily rolled inmills of existing design.

assembling the portable deck of the present invention, it is onlynecessary to begin with a plate lying on the supporting surface orground and to connect thereto the succeeding plates by means ofdisposing within the grooves l of the first-named plate the relativelyshort upward extension 2 of the next plate when the latter is in anapproximately 90 relationship with respect to its ultimate position andto rotate the second-named plate until the web 1 thereof is insubstantial alignment with the web I of the first-named plate. The unitsare made up in single lengths of desired width. The units in the firstrow are laid end to end, and the sec-' 0nd and succeeding rows areinterlocked to the preceding row. Preferablypa staggered relationship iscarried out by means of providingv a proper number of-i half-lengthunits at the end of each complete set of units, as appears in Figure 3.

While I have shown and described a specific embodiment of the presentinvention, it will be understood that I do not wish to be limitedprising a plurality of substantially flat metallic .plates for rapidattachment and detachment,

each of said plates having a continuous flange plates I occupy theirultimate positions, the ends thereof embodying the upward extensions]which seat in the semi-circular portions 3-4 of the next adjacent platesmay contact with the latter at two points; one being the inner edgeofthe arranged along one edge thereof which extends upwardly therefromsubstantially perpendicular to the body of the plate so as to form acontinuously extending lip-like portion throughout the length of theedge of the plate, a pair of spaced apart continuous flange portionsarranged along the opposite side of each of said plates with the extremeends of said flange portions spaced apart so as to provide a jaw-likeportion extending throughout the length of the plate having aconstricted opening therebetween for receiving the edge of an adjacentplate, the first mentioned flange of each of said plates adapted to beinserted between the pair of spaced apart flange or an adjacent plateand the plate adapted to be rotated to a substantially horizontalposition so that the flange is in substantially a vertical plane betweenthe pair of flanges after the plate has been rotated and moved to suchrest upon and be supported by the lowermost flange or jaw of said pairof flanges of an adjacent plate at a point adjacent the first mentionedflange and inwardly toward the center of the plate whereby asubstantially rigid flat horizontal deck is provided capable ofsustaining superposed loads.

2. A portable deck of the class described as defined in claim 1, whereineach flange of the pair of flanges is arranged along one edge of each ofthe plates which form a jaw-like portion is substantially semi-circularin shape on a. transverse section.

GERALD G. GRE'ULICH.

